Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) Given New $172.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $166.00 to $172.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Raymond James from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group raised Raymond James from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Raymond James from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Raymond James from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $161.00 to $185.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Raymond James from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Raymond James has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.09.

Raymond James Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of RJF stock opened at $170.51 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $162.29 and its 200 day moving average is $139.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $34.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.02. Raymond James has a 52-week low of $104.24 and a 52-week high of $174.32.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.31. Raymond James had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 19.99%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Raymond James will post 11.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Raymond James Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Raymond James news, CEO Paul C. Reilly sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.30, for a total transaction of $8,365,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 283,110 shares in the company, valued at $47,364,303. This trade represents a 15.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 3,451 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.62, for a total transaction of $571,554.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 80,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,319,326.02. The trade was a 4.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 64,621 shares of company stock worth $10,729,488. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Raymond James

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Raymond James by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,114,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,483,542,000 after buying an additional 2,898,242 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Raymond James by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,974,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $976,587,000 after buying an additional 54,265 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Raymond James by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,544,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $556,533,000 after purchasing an additional 488,245 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Raymond James by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,351,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,013,000 after acquiring an additional 12,869 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Raymond James by 0.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,064,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,340,000 after purchasing an additional 7,121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.83% of the company’s stock.

Raymond James Company Profile

Raymond James Financial, Inc, a financial holding company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the underwriting, distribution, trading, and brokerage of equity and debt securities, and the sale of mutual funds and other investment products in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Private Client Group, Capital Markets, Asset Management, RJ Bank, and Other segments.